Introduction

Having examined the emergent policy agenda for transport and social exclusion in the UK, we now turn our attention to the environmental justice movement as it relates to transportation policies in the US. As a starting point, it is important to note that the term environmental justice has its roots in the US civil rights movement dating back to the 1960s, where there was a realization that racial discrimination was being compounded by environmental injustices. Many of the legal case histories surrounding environmental justice, including landmark US Supreme Court cases, started with issues of land development; that is, hazardous waste sites, landfills, zoning and so on. Over the last decade, however, there has been a movement towards recognition of environmental justice in the transportation arena. Although both the concept of environmental justice and the policy framework in which it is delivered in the US differ significantly from the UK social exclusion agenda, in the field of transport at least, there are some striking similarities between the two.

This chapter briefly outlines what environmental justice means to various entities and individuals in the US, tracing its origins in the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Senate and House of Representatives, 1964). It describes how transportation inequalities have moved to the forefront of US policy agendas in recent years under the banner of the environmental justice movement. It identifies the mechanisms by which concerns about transportation inequality have increasingly influenced this agenda and have been challenged by US law, the legal framework supporting environmental justice being one of the fundamental differences with the UK social exclusion agenda for transport. Finally, the chapter presents the different national approaches the US has taken on the issue and how local transportation policies have recognized and/or alleviated the problem of environmental injustice.

Executive Order human service transportation coordination

This year, President George W. Bush issued an Executive Order (Office of the Press Secretary, 2004) explicitly aimed at enhancing access to transportation for people who are transportation disadvantaged in the US. The Order formally recognizes that transportation plays a crucial role in providing access to employment, healthcare, education and other community services and amenities.